


negative numbers

by tomatocages (kittu9)



Series: tell the wolves I'm coming home [4]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Canon Compliant, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Season/Series 01, Speculation, Therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-21
Updated: 2013-07-21
Packaged: 2017-12-20 22:42:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/892752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittu9/pseuds/tomatocages
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Black Canary doesn't know exactly what Artemis went through before she joined the team, but she can't stop imagining it, either.</p>
            </blockquote>





	negative numbers

Dinah does not make a habit of being afraid, but every time she sits down with Artemis for one of those monthly Batman-mandated counseling sessions, she knows she’s one day closer to telling Artemis a real, unvarnished truth. So far, Dinah has managed to get by on a steady voice and a few probing questions about the Kid Flash, which is a pretty simple diversion—it’s easy enough to skate around bigger issues when the patient is as world-weary and scorned as Artemis Crock. But if and when Artemis opens up and _trusts someone_ , she will ask Dinah the hardest questions on the great black earth. Dinah won’t be able to respond with platitudes, even if they contain multitudes of truth; Artemis knows what’s what, and saying _do you want to get over it?_ to someone who has spent, bare minimum, four months moving on, is not going to hack it. 

Terrible things have happened to her, and they will probably happen again. Regardless, Artemis is responsible for her own survival—always has been and always will be, and some days, that’s a tragedy Dinah can’t even swallow. This painful, large truth is one that Dinah still doesn’t quite believe herself, but it is something Artemis already knows. The knowing does not make it easier, or less true.

Dinah does not, will never, quite understand Artemis’ father, the way his memory hangs and weighs over his family: six years following him across rooftops, wading through the wake of his crimes like a child wading through a dark river. Her sister reappearing and disappearing just often enough to break her heart. The yawning absence of her mother, who (Dinah’s heard it all from Ollie) is trying, even if she doesn’t deserve the privilege of her daughter’s company.

Dinah’s done her research. No one in the Justice League, with the possible and even likely exception of Batman, knows exactly what Artemis learned during the six years between Huntress’ fall and return home, and even Batman can’t say for sure what Artemis had to do to stay alive. Dinah is a little disgusted with herself for needing to know the gritty details of what Artemis survived between the secret ages of nine and fifteen, but she can’t stop herself from guessing at hypotheticals: What did her combat experience consist of? What kinds of tests did she take, and did she pass or fail? Did her father drag her along in case they got caught, because leaving a minor to take the fall would land Artemis in juvi and not Belle Reve? (If that last one is true, Dinah wonders if that was a kindness or not.) 

These days, Dinah serves as a combat therapist, possibly because out of everyone on the League, she’s the only one who has much experience with catharsis. It is her job to console, to understand, and to help get these fucking _kids_ back in the line of fire; it doesn’t make it any easier when she can read enough between the lines to figure out that out of all of them, Artemis is really the one who knows about the meaning of sacrifice and the certainty of death, and knows that these things are not the slightest bit noble.

Dinah herself was almost twenty when she knowingly killed a man, and she had a righteous force behind her. Artemis is fifteen, _fifteen,_ and no one can say for sure if there is blood on her hands (but there probably is). 


End file.
